The 2010 harvest has been late but so far looks sensational. The later ripening has also had the added advantage of lower light angles and lots of great photograph opportunities. Enjoy a sampling of photos from Tablas Creek, taken between October 25th and November 5th, 2010

The end of September is a great time to walk the vineyard. Most varieties are ripe or nearly so, but most of the fruit is still on the vines. And you get a great chance to see where everything is. We're harvesting our last Grenache Blanc and Syrah this week, and our first Grenache Noir and Roussanne.
Mourvedre, Counoise, and Picpoul are still a few weeks off. But the vineyard looks great, and we're excited with 2009.

We had a break in the weather early this week, with morning fog and daytime highs in the mid-70s. The vineyard is poised for veraison, and I spent a few hours prowling around taking pictures mostly in our Grenache, Mourvedre and Vermentino blocks.

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Lobster Terrine Recipe

I've spent the last few days in Vermont with my parents and sister, in the house in which I grew up. As is usual when we're together there, we spend most of the day cooking, eating, or planning meals. This trip, my dad decided to make a lobster terrine for the first time, and it was surprisingly easy and notably delicious. It's basically the same ingredients as a lobster salad, but more elegant. We enjoyed it at lunch with Ed Behr, owner and publisher of the Art of Eating and a friend of my parents. The recipe is below, but first a photo of the end result:

Chop the lobster meat, celery and onion in a food processor until it is a coarse paste.

Place the lobster broth in the top of a double-boiler or in a small enameled saucepan. Add the gelatin and heat gently until gelatin is dissolved, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, add the gelatin/broth mixture to the mayonnaise, while stirring.

Add the lemon juice to the broth/mayonnaise mix, stirring.

Mix the lobster and vegetables into the mayonnaise/broth/lemon juice.

Whip the heavy cream and then fold it into the mixture.

Season to taste with pepper.

Spoon the mixture into a one-quart terrine, cover and chill in the refrigerator until firm.

Serve with a simple tomato salad (garden tomatoes, onion or scallion, and salt).

We cooked the lobsters the night before and chilled them in the fridge overnight. There was still plenty of juice in the lobsters to use for the broth. We used simple storebought mayonnaise but it would be good I'm sure with homemade as well. Just be careful not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the lobster.

The lunch began with a tasting of Tablas Creek wines with oysters on the half shell from Barbara Scully's Glidden Point Oyster Sea Farm. The wines that showed best incuded what we expected (the 2010 Vermentino and the 2010 Patelin de Tablas Blanc) and also the richer 2010 Antithesis Chardonnay and the 2010 Marsanne, both gaining sweetness and complexity when paired with the briny oysters. The oysters:

And the lineup of wines:

The terrine was richer fare, and while both the Antithesis and the Marsanne continued to show well, the Roussanne-based wines provided the best match. The 2009 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc played wonderfully with the rich texture of the mousse, and the 2010 Roussanne, a bit young and spiky on its own, rounded out with the lobster into a remarkable pairing where each partner informed the other a bit. The terrine, with our favorite pairings:

A delicious meal, fun pairings that illuminated the different wines, and great company. A day well spent.

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Lobster Terrine Recipe

I've spent the last few days in Vermont with my parents and sister, in the house in which I grew up. As is usual when we're together there, we spend most of the day cooking, eating, or planning meals. This trip, my dad decided to make a lobster terrine for the first time, and it was surprisingly easy and notably delicious. It's basically the same ingredients as a lobster salad, but more elegant. We enjoyed it at lunch with Ed Behr, owner and publisher of the Art of Eating and a friend of my parents. The recipe is below, but first a photo of the end result:

Chop the lobster meat, celery and onion in a food processor until it is a coarse paste.

Place the lobster broth in the top of a double-boiler or in a small enameled saucepan. Add the gelatin and heat gently until gelatin is dissolved, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, add the gelatin/broth mixture to the mayonnaise, while stirring.

Add the lemon juice to the broth/mayonnaise mix, stirring.

Mix the lobster and vegetables into the mayonnaise/broth/lemon juice.

Whip the heavy cream and then fold it into the mixture.

Season to taste with pepper.

Spoon the mixture into a one-quart terrine, cover and chill in the refrigerator until firm.

Serve with a simple tomato salad (garden tomatoes, onion or scallion, and salt).

We cooked the lobsters the night before and chilled them in the fridge overnight. There was still plenty of juice in the lobsters to use for the broth. We used simple storebought mayonnaise but it would be good I'm sure with homemade as well. Just be careful not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the lobster.

The lunch began with a tasting of Tablas Creek wines with oysters on the half shell from Barbara Scully's Glidden Point Oyster Sea Farm. The wines that showed best incuded what we expected (the 2010 Vermentino and the 2010 Patelin de Tablas Blanc) and also the richer 2010 Antithesis Chardonnay and the 2010 Marsanne, both gaining sweetness and complexity when paired with the briny oysters. The oysters:

And the lineup of wines:

The terrine was richer fare, and while both the Antithesis and the Marsanne continued to show well, the Roussanne-based wines provided the best match. The 2009 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc played wonderfully with the rich texture of the mousse, and the 2010 Roussanne, a bit young and spiky on its own, rounded out with the lobster into a remarkable pairing where each partner informed the other a bit. The terrine, with our favorite pairings:

A delicious meal, fun pairings that illuminated the different wines, and great company. A day well spent.